Nearly 20 girls rugby teams from several states will gather in Des Moines this weekend for the Midwest Challenge. Phil Kaser is President of the Des Moines Rugby Foundation and says the competition will be for girls under the age of 19. He says they divide it up into high school and u-19 program as high school means different things in different countries.
Kaser says there will be competition in five different divisions. He says it’s a festival rather than a tournament, as they are guaranteed three games. Kaser says it will be much more of a round-robin without the pressure of a tournament, and it allows everyone to play a lot of players.
Kaser says women’s rugby has grown in popularity in the last two decades and the U.S. women are more competitive in international events than their male counterparts.
Competition will take place on Saturday and Sunday.